Blake Gopnik's latest work The Maverick's Museum: Albert Barnes and His American Dream introduces readers to an amazing man, a scientist-salesman-Blake Gopnik's latest work The Maverick's Museum: Albert Barnes and His American Dream introduces readers to an amazing man, a scientist-salesman-art collector with dreams big enough to fill Pennsylvania. He established the Barnes Foundation as an institution to first educate, and second to house and maintain his collection - items from all over the world he began to collect in 1902 (he had too much money) and had fortune enough to connect with powers in the art world such as Picasso, Guillaume and Modigliani, among many others.
While some of the art came from those who did traditional work, the art he most sought in his collection travels was not traditional. He would at first head for famous artists, but as he hunted more seriously his heart was firmly set on art that wasn't their usual work - it was work that, within the context of the time they painted, proved to be outside public expectations. Too much this, not enough that, outside all the rules. AC Barnes trusted his own eyes and preferences, and had gathered a revolving cadre of expert companions. Not just any Renoir or Picasso that would do. . .it had to be different and communicate something specific to the viewer, it had to create something new combining with the viewer's experience. Collected art pieces were not limited to paintings. Sculptures, cultural artifacts, anything that caught his eye that qualified according to his own selection process, the more shockable the better. Many of his pieces were nakedness in all its many, too naked for prime time, forms.
This well-researched read provides a fascinating presentation of this eclectic man - brilliant, opinionated, quixotic - hard to pin down unless it was his idea. Even given a project was of his own making, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't turn on it within a sliver of time or a whiff of disappointing execution. The author provides readers with the competing responses Albert Barnes evoked in the people he worked with and for, the artists he supported and used, and the movers and shakers who could help him realize his dreams and the ones who stood in his path. Albert C. Barnes was a fierce man with a message, and wanted his museum to carry that forward past his time with boots on the ground.
The work itself is well-supported with photographs of Barnes' world, where he lived and worked, as well as some of the most famous pieces from his collection. The Barnes Foundation is still up and running, although the decision-makers have allowed themselves to relax some of its founder's strict rules. Meaning more time open and available, and parts of the collection are allowed to go on tour enabling people in other parts of the world to see the significant consequence of Albert Barnes' Great American Dream.
My museum fav? Van Gogh's Postman, and oh, so many others!
*A sincere thank you to Blake Gopnik, Ecco, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #TheMavericksMuseum #NetGalley | Pub date Mar 18 2025...more
Reading Frank Tallis' book felt like time spent with Sigmund Freud in his world with his wide horizon of friends, acquaintances and even his nay-sayerReading Frank Tallis' book felt like time spent with Sigmund Freud in his world with his wide horizon of friends, acquaintances and even his nay-sayers. A deep dive, indeed, with endpapers aplenty.
The pages provide a snapshot of Vienna and its lovers, haters, artists, writers, grocers, sex workers (oh - so many sex workers in this book), families on the run, and new thoughts about the inner workings of the human mind. The premise - as far as this reader was able to determine - of the author's work is to show all the ways that time and place of conjunction is still with us today. . .here in my writing, thinking, processing, and in your reading of same. How we process was changed, Tallis seems to be saying, because Freud was Freud in Vienna at that time with all those particular players on the ground and in play.
As it is a long, deep book that statement feels overly simplistic, in light of and crowded with all the examples given, but in support of a need for a focused thesis. . . .that worked for me. Mostly, this was interesting information about one of the most influential thinkers in our not-so-distant past, with his fingers still stirring our pots, so to speak. For that effort alone, and all the consequential googling of this reader, 4 stars are given.
*A sincere thank you to Frank Tallis, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* 24/52:48...more
Through the maze of time and space occupied by the fictional characters that sprang Athena-like from Charles Dickens' grey cells, author Lee Jackson hThrough the maze of time and space occupied by the fictional characters that sprang Athena-like from Charles Dickens' grey cells, author Lee Jackson has provided readers a tasty treat in Dickensland: The Curious History of Dickens's London.
Interestingly much of the perspective of this piece is informed by the aspect of 'Dickens' tourism beginning at the dates of the first publishing of Dickens' works - and the popularity of all things related to thereto. Jackson walks a reader through it all, and rounds up with impressive endnotes and all manner of endpapers. Very scholarly and informative for those who would dig deeper into the details introduced.
As with all things academic focusing on topics specific, this read will appeal most to those with eyes to see and ears to hear. But for those who want to see London as Dickens did, as Oliver did, as Fagin did. . .here's the portal, or the map to a few portals that may yet remain in her old bones. . .
*A sincere thank you to Lee Jackson, Yale University Press, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #Dickensland #NetGalley...more
Readers who wonder about the whys of authors' writerly choices would do well to look at their journeys in life - and Travis Elborough does exactly thaReaders who wonder about the whys of authors' writerly choices would do well to look at their journeys in life - and Travis Elborough does exactly that in his The Writer's Journey: In the Footsteps of the Literary Greats.
Thirty-five writers' journeys and Mr. Elborough's considerations on the effects of those footsteps spent on the subject writer / journey are provided for the reader's further study. These essay-ish offerings are accompanied by a simple styled illustration of the landmark points of the journey, and general photographs of the area visited. Few of these photos are specific to the writer being considered or the visit or even the time. However, many of these locations earned their popularity by the expectations of those who've read of them, enshrouded by time, invested capital and entrepreneurial locals who ensure a consistent presentation with pages published.
This book would be a good way for those beginning their literature studies to acquaint themselves with the subject writers.
*A sincere thank you to Travis Elborough, Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #WritersJourneysThatShapedOurWorld #NetGalley...more
Six generations of my people have tramped around and upon the ground that underscores Los Angeles and its environs. Stepping into the Hollywood BehSix generations of my people have tramped around and upon the ground that underscores Los Angeles and its environs. Stepping into the Hollywood Behind the Lens: Treasures from the Bison Archives was a walk in the past, echoes of family pictures in these pages.
This is a picture album with great notes about who is where when, and the how and when of landmark origins. Do not think this is just about Hollywood - although it is. . .the authors share much more about specific spots, how they "grew" into whatever they are famous for today, and the "ancestry" of companies and celeb-entities. Famous folk, and forgotten stars still sparkle in this nostalgic book. Marc Wanamaker has been a diligent steward of the story of stardom in the Southern California region, and deserves mighty kudos for his work. I suspect this will be a book more for the fans and those, like myself, who've spent blood, sweat and tears on the roads, trails, acres that have become a very large metropolis.
A trip down memory lane - and a book to keep on the public shelves to share with kindred spirits!
*A sincere thank you to Marc Wanamaker and Steven Bingen, Globe Pequot | Lyons Press, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #HollywoodBehindtheLens #NetGalley 52:21...more
People have been pushing people off their generational lands from the very beginning. . .this is another group being told by governmental authorities People have been pushing people off their generational lands from the very beginning. . .this is another group being told by governmental authorities that it is time to move on. . .
While there were certainly other campaigns, this author focuses on the early decades of the 20th century. The where is Norway and Sweden, and the who are the reindeer herding communities known as Sámi. The author, Elin Anna Labba starts with a heartrending observation and query:
As the Finno-Sámi poet Áillohaš said, we carry our homes in our hearts. Can you do that if you were forced to leave? Do I have the right to mourn for a place that has never been mine?
This is another account and report from a community "othered," targeted, and pushed off ancestral lands - lands where their dead remain. In this case it is reindeer herding lands in Norway from which they were forced, and pushed onto lands in Sweden to the dismay of Swedes who turned against the refugees. . .a fight that is now generations long. So familiar - as has happened in every land everywhere it seems.
It was a read I felt deeply, and one for which I was grateful as this old, hard news was new to me, an education long time in coming. Sorrowing I add these heart-plucking histories to those of other indigenous peoples about whom I continue to ponder.
A powerful and poignant read.
*A sincere thank you to Elin Anna Labba, University of Minnesota Press, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #TheRocksWillEchoOurSorrow #NetGalley 52:46...more
A treat for fort history buffs, and a great tool for field trips with family and students with similar interests. As for me? My interest comes from faA treat for fort history buffs, and a great tool for field trips with family and students with similar interests. As for me? My interest comes from family history quests embarked upon for more information about my own lines and legends, stories to dig into to figure out what is fact and what is more likely a tall tale.
This book provides facts and reported contacts and happenings at a specific set of forts in the American Midwest, along with good representation of the peoples who had lived in those areas before Lewis & Clark changed the neighborhood. Great maps, illustrations and photographs accompany the sections on each locale, and the endpapers are very helpful if you have your heart set on only one particular fort - you won't have to unwind the whole book to get to that information.
I'm sending 3.5 stars up the flagpole. . .rounding to 4 - bonus to the authors for providing information on a subject that hasn't been given much attention.
*A sincere thank you to Jay H. Buckley and Jeffrey D. Nokes, University of Nebraska Press, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #GreatPlainsForts #NetGalley...more
Marcia Zug works her way through the many ways marriage has bolstered, trapped and held us up, and held us down (depending on the "us" involved). I foMarcia Zug works her way through the many ways marriage has bolstered, trapped and held us up, and held us down (depending on the "us" involved). I found this book fascinating from many levels. Truly a case of "What's Love Got to do with it?". . .
Marriage is considered in all the ways it has benefited those who marry and those who don't. . .aren't. What are those benefits - sometimes as basic as safety itself. It can be a ticket to ride into America, to have access to more resources, to allow abuse, to boost education, to lose work opportunities, to increase earning power, and to decrease it. Marriage benefits who it benefits from the underlying inequities we've had with us from the very beginning of our national pile of laws. We are evolving, but we haven't come as far as we think we have. An instance of Janus is what it is. . .
Overall a very interesting read. I'm keeping this around to re-read and rethink on this subject.
*A sincere thank you to Marcia A. Zug, Steerforth, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #YoullDo #NetGalley 24/52:18...more
I must admit my bias. I'm a Frances Perkins fan. I try every Labor day to read a book by her, about her, or something related to her causes.
There is nI must admit my bias. I'm a Frances Perkins fan. I try every Labor day to read a book by her, about her, or something related to her causes.
There is not one citizen in America whose life has not been significantly shaped by her ideas. Not one. Yet most couldn't tell you who she was or what she did. It's clear we DON'T have enough books about her. . . .Ruth Cashin Monsell's book is well written and well-aimed at the YA group. It is accessible reading, although working up an interest in worker's rights among children who never had to work in factories, or youth who see education as a have-to imposed by elders. . .is well, a challenge. Still, that's a lovely problem to have. All those hard-won privileges moved into the expectation category.
Kudos to the writer, publishers and to dear Frances herself. Read about her. Libraries and schools - make sure there are books about this woman in YOUR library - and this one here? Would be a great place to start. The issues discussed in this book are not all fixed. They are with us today, being updated with new needs and we need the Franceses of today to think their big thoughts and hoist their flags.
*A sincere thank you to Ruth Cashin Monsell, Independent Publishers Group and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.*...more
Susan Goldman Rubin provides the difficult yet inspiring story of the Gee's Bend community resiliency to young people. She shows through the telling oSusan Goldman Rubin provides the difficult yet inspiring story of the Gee's Bend community resiliency to young people. She shows through the telling of the community's hard working women put in full days working in fields and then home to their families, and still found time and energy to develop a unique way of quilting to cover and warm everyone. Through simple and accessible narrative she introduces quilters, their contributions and historical photographs shows how quilting and their quilts gave them another way to raise their voices against past abuses done to them through slavery and the continued persecution that ran rife and under the cover of white law during the post-slavery days.
Gee's Bends Quilts are goin' strong. . .they have a wikipedia page, and are on pinterest and etsy! Sew On and Sew Forth!...more
"And now," as the Monty Python crawl would roll out, "for something completely different. . . ." is the read Combing Through the White House: Hair "And now," as the Monty Python crawl would roll out, "for something completely different. . . ." is the read Combing Through the White House: Hair and its Shocking Impact on the Politics, Private Lives, and Legacies of the Presidents. A fascinating book for those, like myself, obsessed with that fluffy stuff and all the ways to dress it: HAIR ! ; and, a within a bonus filtered category - Hair in History. And to drill down even further - Hair in American Presidential History. Ahh. Can't pass that up!
The author, Theodore Pappas, has done his research! Six thorough chapters cover hair in ways you have not even considered, and in ways you probably have (but this will take you deeper in):
The “Body Politic” of a President Hair and the Life and Death of Abraham Lincoln
Locks and Presidential Legacies The Long, Lush History of Collecting Hair
Politics, Diplomacy, and Family Life Hair’s Mighty Impact, at Home and Abroad
Hair, Image, and Infidelities The Case of John F. Kennedy
Parallel Tragedies The Pierces, the Bushes, and the Death of a Child
Follicle Forensics Solving Presidential Mysteries Through Science and DNA
These cover assassinations, deaths, affairs, non-affairs, family tragedies, wives, partners, stand-ins, fancy Dos, mullets, who was the dreamboat president (you'll be surprised), who was dug up to find out if murder'd been done, who got caught by DNA (more than you think), and who cared about their Do, and who just gave a head toss and greeted the public. Politics are mentioned, and controversies or scandals are not shied away from, but they are not the focus, folks - this is a book about Hair. on. the. Body. Politic. !!
This is a book you'll want to see - ebook or physical - because of all the nifty pictures - they support and expand the author's focus in each section. An audio version would lose an important element of what makes this such an entertaining read.
I'm thinking this will be a perfect gift for my political friends and family. Oh! and all the "hair" managers I know and love. (Get ready, Carol. You are gonna love this!)
*A sincere thank you to Theodore Pappas, Harper Celebrate, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #CombingThroughtheWhiteHouse #NetGalley...more
I discovered Katherine Paterson when I started reading to my grandchildren. I missed her books for myself, and for my own kiddos. . . and that I regreI discovered Katherine Paterson when I started reading to my grandchildren. I missed her books for myself, and for my own kiddos. . . and that I regret. Although my own kiddos said they had found Katherine P all on their own because they'd all five read Bridge to Terabithia, and later plunked me down on a movie night to watch the movie version of her tale. To find and read all her books is an item on my bucket list. The grandkids and I started with Jacob Have I Loved.
It was an instant reach for an opportunity to read Stories of My Life when it came across my shelves. . . and Katherine's life has clearly been at the back of some of the most inspiring, and funny, and heartfelt scenes in her writings. Her tribe shows up all the time. Now that I have her actual backstory, my bucket list fulfillment will be doubly satisfying.
If you've loved her books, you'll love her life stories. Find it and settle in for a lovely read. You'll travel far and near, climb family trees up and down, and out to some branches, hop to visit friends and a particular celebrity (who was the last to kiss Robert E. Lee!), go to school, church and on dates with her, watch how marriage negotiations fare, see her writing chops grow and blossom, meet beloved pets and see her humble receipt of many well-earned awards. Above all, you'll see love of her own family and the human family shining through her words, lighting up her books.
If you've never read Katherine Paterson's works (and a few are authored with her husband John, and others), even if you don't have kidlets around, read this first, and then look at her impressive booklist at the end; choose one after reading this. . .especially if you have a fondness to dip into YA or middle-grader genres. You'll feel her engaging curiosity, her impetuous spirit through and through.
*A sincere thank you to Katherine Paterson, Westminster John Knox Press, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #StoriesofMyLife #NetGalley...more
During the 70's Vietnam was in the news. . .in our home and all over America. We saw and heard footage terrible and awful about people on the other siDuring the 70's Vietnam was in the news. . .in our home and all over America. We saw and heard footage terrible and awful about people on the other side of the world in a war our friends and family members were going off to fight for reasons we were beginning to see were hopeless. As the years marched on and we were changing course, we began to hear about the Boat People. . .desperately trying to find another place to live - anywhere else. And Anywhere Else wasn't showing up. . .
Vinh Chung was one of eight children, with parents and some other extended family members who had sacrificed all to climb on questionable vessels tossed into an indifferent ocean. Where the Wind Leads: A Refugee Family's Miraculous Story of Loss, Rescue and Redemption unfurls his family's story: what the family's situation was before the war, after an end of it was unpacked to be even more life-threatening to his people, and how they decided as a group that they had this one wet, dangerous option.
The tale is breathtaking - spread thickly with terrifying circumstances, next to impossible logistics, rapacious and murderous dangers in the real form of pirates who had even less to lose than they did, and covered over with the incredible bravery of each - right down to quiet babies, life-giving men, women and children.
When purchase on a friendly shore is finally obtained, the trials begin with an entirely new flavor of difficult - starting with new languages needed for basic resource procurement. The author, thankfully, provides all of "the rest of the story" for readers who at this point are very invested in these real, live people - not characters of fiction.
And to that end, this was an eyes (ebook) and ears (audio) experience for me - a BuddyRead with Carla (thank you, dear girl!), and we were rewarded with many, many photographs of these courageous people, who are now eagerly engaged in many great causes for the good of others and their own families.
Places once inhabited which are no longer have always been of great interest to me. "If these walls could talk," was one of my first and still favoritPlaces once inhabited which are no longer have always been of great interest to me. "If these walls could talk," was one of my first and still favorite "wonders" about places, buildings, and spaces in this world. To understand someone once felt inspired enough, excited enough to change a natural space into a living/work human space to further life endeavors and efforts for survival and development is an amazing, complex ponder. As equally amazing is the realization that those same spaces could in short or long periods of time be found lacking even one live person who still tends that fire - the space is abandoned completely. Such a situation is compelling to me, and here's a book full of it!
Covering all the continents and with beautiful, atmospheric photographs, the author walks a reader through areas on each of them: East Asia, Central Asia, Indian Continent, Middle East, Africa, Europe, North America, South and Central America, Australasia and wraps it up with Antarctica.
The author presents reasons for towns, villages and lived-in spaces being abandoned, and his reasoning is well-considered and delivered with breathtaking, haunting photographs supporting the observations offered.
This is a book to get lost in, which will trigger no end of new thoughts on far off places. Very satisfying and thought-provoking.
*A sincere thank you to Chris McNab, Amber Books, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #AbandonedTowns #NetGalley...more
The idea of a blind woodsman blew my mind! How can it be so?
John and Anni Furniss show how it IS so. . . right there in their every day! The BlindThe idea of a blind woodsman blew my mind! How can it be so?
John and Anni Furniss show how it IS so. . . right there in their every day! The Blind Woodsman: One Man's Journey to Find His Purpose is filled with amazing photographs and compelling backstories getting them to where they are now, showing how this blind woodsman is turning out beautiful work with his hands. Anni's artistry and skillful management of their combined talents show up in this book as well.
Together they are forging a life that is inspiring and an example to all of us who think we don't have a hope of getting around, over or through obstacles placed in our paths. It isn't magic, it isn't easy and the hardest mind to change is your own. These two show through their not-yet-together challenges how ready and easy they were for pianos, paint and love-is-in-the-air when it presented itself.
*A sincere thank you to John Furniss, Anni Furniss, Fox Chapel Publishing, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #TheBlindWoodsman #NetGalley...more
A slim, start-to-finish, well-documented and engaging presentation of Edith Wharton's "escape." That is to say, this daughter of The Joneses. . . (YesA slim, start-to-finish, well-documented and engaging presentation of Edith Wharton's "escape." That is to say, this daughter of The Joneses. . . (Yes! Those Joneses for who the saying "keeping up with the. . ." was first used) using her wealth, talent and restraint was able to have her cake and eat it, too. In other words, she overcame society's barriers against women writing novels, and still remained one of the accepted bastions of that peculiar and exclusive club (as defined by Mrs. Astor).
She was upper-class, but the limits placed upon her by family and their place in that refined world often appears to have worked against her before she married out into a measure of freedom. She went to her mother as her wedding drew closer for information on how it all was supposed to go after the wedding. That first night - that forbidden topic for all her formative years - surely now she'd get some clues. How? What to expect? Her mother snapped hard and said she couldn't believe Edith was that ignorant, and stormed out leaving her daughter uneducated and anxious. These and other topics, such as scandals that proved knowledge was attained sufficient to be provocative to others show up in this biography curiously deemed for children. As an adult of many decades myself, I found this book delightful but there was little here to which the child in me would have related and been interested.
This surprising biography is cataloged as juvenile literature. I know very few under-twenties that are looking to find out about the life and life-shaping experiences of Edith Wharton. She's rather an acquired taste among readers of a certain age, in my view.
Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge's The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton is fair, interesting and just-the-right-size for learning in brief about a very complicated, talented writer. This is not a deeply-delving academic study of Ms. Wharton's works, but rather draws out life events, persons of interest, and the whir of society's seasonal expectations that shaped the particular demographic to which EW was writing. She had her secrets, and she had no problem with the people who didn't "get" her. She didn't really care about them at all. She reached under, around and over to those who had ears to hear her words, and eyes to see her point.
A great read for anyone who has read and enjoyed Edith Wharton's works and wants to know more about Herself....more
I really only want to say that we may love a place and still be dangerous to it. - Wallace Stegner, "Thoughts in a Dry Land" (from the Prologue of WalI really only want to say that we may love a place and still be dangerous to it. - Wallace Stegner, "Thoughts in a Dry Land" (from the Prologue of Wallace Stegner's Unsettled Country: Ruin, Realism, and Possibility in the American West.
A discussion is initiated and presented within the pages of this book in the form of twelve essays about the many ideas and concepts contained within the writings of Wallace Stegner, and the extent to which he (and others who followed his lead - and who inspired him in his thinking) changed the way we think about "The American West"- that huge "empty" backyard of the Thirteen Colonies (also previously "empty") and how we saved all that from going to waste (jk).
We have as a people, fortunately, been experiencing a change of mind, a reconsideration of history, of our ancestors' motives, of all the many contributors of the mixed-bag legacy we are sorting through - it's a messy garage they've left us to sort through, and the stories they've told us are . . .not quite right. It's time to reconsider, revisit and be brave enough to revise some of these stories we are telling ourselves.
As for me - I'm a big fan of Wallace Stegner, with all his flaws. Just like I love Scarlett O'Hara. I just can't say GWTW is my favorite book anymore. Angle of Repose - another all time favorite. But it's clearly time to rethink and reposition - just like how you love your racist Granny. She's who she is, and to the extent you can change things, do. But, most of my racist Grand Folks are long gone, and the best I can do is sort through their stories, and place them in context, hear the words but never forget to listen hard to the spaces in-between, and the parts of stories they leave out - that's what you learn later or from other sources. Still important to pay attention to, though.
That is what this book does. It takes the works of Wallace Stegner (and the contemporaries he played with) and thoughtfully sorts through different aspects. Outting his White Guy leanings, his blindspots, while considering each carefully. Flags are raised in places I hadn't even considered, and advocacies and championing are recognized in other writings. (My TBR list grew appreciably from this read). The essays are well-researched, documentation shared, and are well-presented.
While it may be long-winded of me, I wanted to share the TOC so readers can see the variety of topics covered in the 12 essays (my own take-aways):
Prologue: Wallace Stegner in His Time and in Ours
RUIN (Stegner's failings, flaws and blind spots) 1 Wallace Stegner’s Unsettled Country: Ruin, Realism, and Possibility in the American West, Mark Fiege [Lays the groundwork for the general premise. . . ]
2 The American West as Exploited Space: From One Nation to Poston, Alexandra Hernandez [WWII use of park lands generally for Japanese Internment; specifically Poston in Arizona's Parker Valley]
3 Creation as Erasure: Wallace Stegner and the Making and Unmaking of Regions, Michael J. Lansing [American settlements created over communities already established and existing by disappearing them]
4 Exploits against the Effete: Wallace Stegner and Bernard DeVoto, Men of Western Letters, Flannery Burke [Outting the narrow concern of WS's writings - For instance - What's manlier according to WS&Co: Western writers v Eastern writers? - with notes that non-white, and non-men don't even register in the discussion!]
5 Returning to the Best Idea We Ever Had, Michael Childers [National parks. . .all about the good and bad and whose they were to begin with. . . .]
REALISM (Questions myths and tropes WS and his admirers perpetuated) 6 The Legacies of Wallace Stegner and the Stegner Fellowships in a Changing American West, Nancy S. Cook [WS writing and teaching changing the literary landscape of America, and his mind changing as he aged]
7 Sludge in the Cup: Wallace Stegner’s Philosophical Legacy and the Hard Job Ahead, Michael A. Brown [WS's philosophical hopes he would leave with readers - did he miss the mark? Can you step in the same river twice. . .maybe. . .but did he?] A great discussion!
8 Hope in Public Lands: A Conversation, Leisl Carr Childers and Adam M. Sowards [Public lands - discussed by two over years - "the geography of hope" (WS's phrase) and how it shows up in his works, advocacies and others influenced by him over the years]
POSSIBILITY (Further areas of discussion/debate about what constitutes a usuable education in today's world and a reconsideration of WS themes of hope and bridging differences) 9 The Education of Wallace Stegner, Melody Graulich [Influence of learning institutions on WS, and further affect through his writings] "Culture is a pyramid to which each of us brings a stone." (WS from Living Dry)
10 Revisiting "The Marks of Human Passage", Robert B. Keiter [Dinosaurs and Bears Ears]
11 The Geography of Hope in an Age of Uncertainty, Paul Formisano [Resources of the West (water, space, minerals) - ?should use or shouldn't? ?who controls?]
12 The American West as Unlivable Space, Robert M. Wilson [Water, climate change, ecological challenges in the West - expansion too far hasn't worked - does WS have any answers?]
Epilogue: Richer for this Sorrow
The Westerner is less a person than a continuing adaptation. The West is less a place than a process. - Wallace Stegner, Thoughts in a Dry Land
There is a sense in which we are all each other's consequences. . . - Wallace Stegner, All the Little Live Things
Well-written, carefully presented in an even-handed way, this Wallace Stegner fan is pleased to have these new perspectives to think about. WS isn't my only favorite who has been shown as more storyteller, than truthteller and one needs to have tools to handle those kind of mind changing processes. This book provides some of those tools. It is certain that everyone should reconsider, revisit and readjust / realign / reject the "truths" and "histories" that have come down through the generations - because times, they are (and always have been) a-changin'. . . .
*A sincere thank you to Mark Fiege, Michael J. Lansing, and Leisl Carr Childers, University of Nebraska Press/Bison Books, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #WallaceStegnersUnsettledCountry #NetGalley...more
An informative book about my home town, always an interest of mine - especially the past, that equation that brings us to the present moment: the sum An informative book about my home town, always an interest of mine - especially the past, that equation that brings us to the present moment: the sum of all parts.
Carl Abbott provides a well-organized chronological look at the piece of earth we now call Portland, situated in the county of Multnomah (as in the territory in which the Multnomah native peoples lived prior to the take over by incoming mixed populations), in the state of Oregon.
It is fascinating to drive over land, through communities and compare writings, photographs, and changes over hundreds of years. The land hangs in, suffers us to stay (mostly) and in most cases simply carries on, its myriad citizens (human and animal) reshaping it with every wave of migration, settlement, abandonment and then recycle. We worry about our own times, and all the details of them, and yet the land underneath us is as ancient as ancient is. Blows my mind.
Robust endpapers referred me to Jewel Lansing's book on the same topic, so more to come....more
My first white girl experience with kachina dancers was being a toddler, watching Gumby (my hero) on our black and white TV. There were a number of epMy first white girl experience with kachina dancers was being a toddler, watching Gumby (my hero) on our black and white TV. There were a number of episodes featuring these beautiful images and figures and I've been intrigued all my life. To find a book such as Rebecca M. Valette has written and provided to further educate people on them, from a Navajo perspective and artist was irresistible for this reader.
Clitso Dedman, is not this artist's birth name. It is the name Americans used as his uniqueness and various successes as one who was willing to learn white ways created a conspicuousness that stayed with him throughout his life. He could explain and translate for whites talking to native peoples, and could go the other direction just as nimbly.
The author explores his origins in his clans, and the experiences he and his family had when Indian School attendance was imposed on his people. She provides her deeply researched information and obvious passion in Clitso's abilities and the ways he found to thrive in a system and environment where many did not. His exceptionalism is not portrayed at the expense of his fellows, but rather to show the unusualness of his spirit. Along with his personal experiences, the author provides context in both place, nation (Navajo / USA), and is very clear that the diversity of the first nations was thoroughly quashed by the imposition of America and other nations to constantly regard all first nations into one homogenous tribe. Although Ms. Valette's focus is on the Navajo culture and peoples generally, and on Mr. Dedman particularly, she shows in her endpapers the many different versions, tribes, clans and people who also engaged in making images of these dancing gods. . . the figures I called (and loved): kachina dolls.
It is a welcome addition to our world that this book was written, recognizing missteps, and casting a long glance at the histories we've been taught. In that process we are sure to find others who need recognition and proper attribution for their labors, art and sacrifice. A celebration of Clitso Dedman and his work has been a long time landing on our book shelves!
*A sincere thank you to Rebecca M. Valette, University of Nebraska Press, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #ClitsoDedmanNavajoCarver #NetGalley...more
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